Edward De Bono

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Doctor Edward De Bono Ph.D. is the founder and director of the Cognitive research trust in Cambridge, England.

An academic who is the father of lateral thinking and a world-renowned creativity expert. He has worked with Gerry Adams, the Eurythmics, Richard Branson, Francis Bacon, and the Pet Shop Boys in terms of improving the creative process.

He is a consultant and author and has written 68 books, in 40 languages, with many people teaching his methods across the globe.

De Bono is responsible for creating the popular six thinking hats technique, which helps you look at important decisions from a number of different perspectives. This technique was first promoted in his book of the same name: “6 thinking hats”.

De Bono is also responsible for the systematic thinking tool known as PMI or plus minus interesting which is a variation of pros and cons analysis.

Many of De Bono’s thinking tools are now taught on training courses to employees wishing to improve their creative abilities and they are taught across many schools across the globe.

The International Astronomical Associations renamed the planet DE73 to EdeBono after him.

He followed many generations of his family by enrolling in medical school at the island of Malta’s university at the age of 15 (his father was a doctor, his mother was a journalist). This university is now home to his Institute for the Design and Development of Thinking.

His life’s work has been with respect to educating people on how to treat creativity as a systematic process. Many large corporations have adopted his methods including Boeing, British Telecom, Nokia, Nestle, IBM, and Siemens.

You can watch the video below of De Bono giving a talk on creativity and thinking outside of the box: